I’ve written before on what I call Christmas Card Theology, the historical and biblical inaccuracies of our popular art and imagery when it comes to all things Christmas. I just noticed something tonight for the first time.

I was looking for images of Joseph and Mary making the journey to Bethlehem. The second Sunday of Advent is coming up and we will light the Bethlehem candle as we focus on the faith it took Joseph and Mary to trust God during remarkable circumstances. This is just a sampling of the many images that Google found in a fraction of a second. Take a look, see if anything jumps out at you.

So do you notice anything? Does all that look right?

What about the star they are following? Joseph knew how to get to Bethlehem “because he was of the house and lineage of David.” (Luke 2:4) The star did not appear until Jesus was born. The wise men saw the star appear according to Matthew’s Gospel and it “went before them” until resting above the place the child was. Point being, the miraculous appearance of the star led the wise to Jesus. It first appeared when Jesus was born so an expecting Mary could not have followed it to Bethlehem, nor would she or Joseph have needed to. I never realized how many images seem to take for granted that what happened.